


Don’t Let Go (I Won’t)

by Neutrine



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Blow Jobs, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 16:37:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20763536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neutrine/pseuds/Neutrine
Summary: Bruce don’t usually do this. He’s honestly not quite sure how it happened. One minute he is brooding over a beer and the next he is in the backroom of a bar, a bartender plastered against him, reaching for his belt.





	Don’t Let Go (I Won’t)

**Author's Note:**

> Not Beta'ed and english is not my first language. Feedback is much appreciated!

**** _ You look at me, and you see your past. _

_ Is that the reason why you’re running so fast? _

Bruce used to love bars. They are crowded, loud and messy. When he first moved into the Stark Tower they used to remind him of India and it made it easier to adjust to living in a city where the people don't see each other. Here, people just walk by, aim in sight, and pretends each other don’t exist. No smiling to strangers or stopping to help with a heavy box or bag. It’s different in bars. In bars most people's purpose is to see other people. Whether its familiars or seeking out new faces, the other people are key. It gives out a kind of aura that doesn’t happen on the street. The air is filled with comfort and activity and buzzing and it used to make Bruce’s bones ache for the busy streets of Calcutta. 

Bruce doesn’t love bars anymore. He’s gotten too settled in his comformaties. Too used to spotless rooms and personal space. Too used to not relying on strangers for social needs and instead seeking it out from a select few. Sometimes it scares him. That he has chosen to need a small group of people so much, and when that happens, he goes to a bar. 

Tonight is one of those nights. He had felt the tension bleed from his muscles when he had met Tony in the kitchen that morning after a marathon of lab work. The man had only given Bruce a slap on his shoulder in passing and a frustrated remark about the density of his vibranium alloy, but it had been enough. It was familiar. He had felt safe. 

Naturally, Bruce panicked. 

He doesn’t do it on purpose or even every time. He knows he’s being an idiot, knows he made the choice himself, and that it’s good for him. But Bruce have had safety shattered again and again and he can’t help but wait for the hammer to drop here too. It’s pointless to worry about scenarios that haven’t happened, Bruce knows he’s safer than he has ever been, but it’s drilled into his skull and some habits are hard to break. 

This is why Bruce have found himself in a shady bar in upper Manhattan, staring hopelessly into a beer that he hasn't touched. He knows he’s been doing it for about five minutes too long when the bartender asks; 

“Rough night?” 

Bruce looks up at her. She looks young, petite and blue-eyed, long brown locks falling from her shoulders. Her makeup is heavy, red lipstick and dark outlined eyes, but behind it all her lines are soft and gentle and innocent. It’s a sharp contrast and there’s something about the picture that doesn’t add up in his head. Bruce wonders idly how she ended up in a place like this, but it’s too cliché and he doesn’t ask. Instead he thrums his fingers loosely against his glass and says; 

“Yeah, something like that.” He answers. The bartender nods acknowledging, a smooth movement, and sends a genuine smile his way. 

“I don’t think I've seen you around here before. What’s your name?” she asks. Bruce wants to laugh, because most of New York, if not America, knows who he is. Maybe not by his own face, that's usually the Hulk, but the name Banner rings a bell with most. From her though, the question seems genuine and combined with the undivided attention, Bruce can’t stop the answer from spilling. 

“Bruce.” 

“Bruce, huh?” she hums. “I like that. It’s a good name. I’m Ava.” She - Ava, apparently - reach a hand over the wood and gives his own a shake. The gesture soothes him, oddly enough, and where their hands meet his palm tingles in a pseudo-excitement. Her eyes are looking him over appreciating and she leans with her elbows on the bar towards him in a clear invitation. 

He’s not unused to being approached in a bar. Bruce have had all kinds of people come up to him and try to strike up a conversation, but where they are looking for a quick fuck or a few dates, he’s not and he always politely declines. Bruce haven’t been with anyone since Betty, and there’s no reason that should change. 

It’s not that Bruce doesn’t miss it. Of course he misses a warm body next to him when he wake up in the morning. Of course he misses endless kisses on front steps. Of course he misses intimacy. But he simply shouldn’t. Bruce is very aware that he owns a very specific brand of anger management issues, and being tied in a relationship to it would be too cruel for anyone. Going through it with Betty, even as a maybe-but-not-quite-relationship, was too much. From the minute the Hulk got involved, all Bruce did was hurt her. She would have been happier if he had just left her alone. He drew her too close, got too selfish, made her turn against her own family. Simply put; Bruce have taught himself to just not be that selfish anymore. He’s… content. And that’s enough for now. 

“Ava.” He tries the name on his tongue and smiles politely. “Aren’t you a little young to be serving drinks in a place like this?” 

The comment is meant to diffuse the tension. That's usually the case when you start talking about women's age. Not quite rude enough to be unfriendly, but rude enough to take away the worst of the pheromone haze. Ava though, Ava just laughs, an unimpressed little chuckle and winks at him. Huh. 

“I’m older than i look, handsome.” 

They talk for a while. They exchange loose stories, hers from her daily occupation as a history major, and his necessary half-lies from his research. She gives him another beer that he doesn’t touch either, but Ava is intoxicating enough in herself. Sometimes she slips him a smile that’s a little too tight, like one of his comments strike a nerve that he haven’t discovered yet. Bruce have known enough people in his life to figure most people out quite quickly. Those he haven’t have either been some kinds of super-something or spies. That Ava isn’t transparent should scare him, but for some reason it just drags him in. It's like a piece of fact, just waiting to be discovered and Bruce feels a thrill that he knows from his research and Bruce wouldn’t be a scientist if he wasn’t addicted to it. 

And that’s how he ends up in the staffroom up against a wall with Avas tongue exploring the inside of his mouth. Bruce can not for the life of him explain how she convinced him. One minute they were discussing the industrial revolution and the next he’s following her into the staffroom. It’s a blatantly stupid move, because Bruce shouldn’t be doing this, but he’s too far gone on clever remarks and casual touches. It also helps that she smells _ amazing _ _ . _ He smells her perfume of course, light and flowery, but he also smells _ her _ . It’s earthly and heavy, like the evening before a storm, like static electricity, _ like thunder and rain _ and he can’t get enough. She kisses nothing like Betty, but the thrum she ignites through his body is unmistakable. 

Ava licks insistently at the inside of his mouth, moaning whenever Bruce moves to slide his own tongue against hers. She presses herself urgently against him and Bruce is grabbing her waist in an effort to hang on. He needs to stop this _ now _, but Bruce haven’t had this in so long, and the thought of wasting air to speak feels like a sin right now. He sinks his teeth in her bottom lip and Ava moans needily in response. Sliding his hand across her ribs to cup the underside of her breast gives a similar response. 

When her hand closes around him, he knocks his head back against the wall. He hadn’t even noticed that she had popped his button. The pain clears his thought for about a millisecond, but the rationality yields for the way Avas mouth willingly moves to the underside of his jaw. Bruce whines and lets one of his hands tangle into her hair. 

He returns the favor, bites along the shell of her ear and sucking into the hollow under it, when she gives out a sharp moan and unceremoniously falls to her knees right then and there. And, honestly, he wants to say something along the lines of ‘Ava you shouldn’t’ or ‘You don’t have to’, or ‘We need to stop’, but then Ava swallows him all the way down and all that comes out is a garbled collection of vowels. 

Ava is hot and wet around him and Bruce is painfully close to coming on the spot. His legs are dangerously close to giving out from under him, and he grabs at the wall behind him, until Ava steadies him with her hands on his hips. Bruce allows himself a single rush of panic. Last time he did something like this he had to stop because of the soar of the Hulk under his skin. It's not as clear now. Avas electricity overshadows it all and the Hulk feels uncharacteristically quiet. 

He doesn’t have time to stop and think about it. All he can focus on is the bobbing of Ava’s head and the way she sometimes flattens her tongue against the underside of his cock on her way up. When she carefully ghosts the edges of her teeth along him, his hips flex forward, only to be pushed firmly back by her hands. 

It should be embarrassing how close he already is, but its been years - almost a decade - since he’d had this last. Even then - even with Betty - it was never like this. Ava is ruthless. She takes all of him, again and again, and Bruce can only hang on for the ride. He is making a lot of noise; little _ hnn _ _ g- _ noises whenever she twirls her tongue around his head and moans when she goes as far as she can. He can feel the heat pooling low in his stomach, and he should do something about now. Stop her, leave, piss her off. _ Anything _. He doesn’t know what’s going to happen when this finishes, and it should scare him more than it does. He doesn’t feel the Hulk at all right now - not more than usual - and that might be why he can’t get himself to pull away. When Ava looks up at him, he once again finds himself in a situation where he can’t remember the reasons why. 

“Oh my _ god _.” she tells him when she pulls off with a wet pop. She sounds desperate, as if this is getting her off just as much as him and the idea makes Bruce balls tighten in preparation. Ava fists his cock one, two, three times, enough for her to swallow a few lungs full of air and dives back in. When she doesn’t stop sucking him in and Bruce can feel her throat swallow reflexively around him, the last string snaps and he spills into her mouth without giving her a warning. 

Ava doesn’t care, just swallows all of it, pulling off when he’s done and licking her lips to get rid of any she might have missed. She moves up to kiss him deeply, and Bruce used to love this; used to love tasting himself on the others tongue, but when Ava opens her eyes and smiles at him afterwards, the warm, fuzzy feeling turns to ice, because where her eyes had been a comforting pale blue, they are now a glowing _ green _ _ . _ Ava, of course, doesn’t know, and doesn’t notice the way Bruce have tensed under her hands, because at the same time the sound of breaking glass is heard and someone knocks the staffroom-door, asking for her. Ava bites her lower lip and leans in to give him a lingering peck on the lip. 

“I will be right back,” she says, tugging him back into his pants, zipping him up and fastening the button in one fluid movement. She closes the door behind her and Bruce locks his knees to keep them from wobbling. He breathes heavily, and he doesn’t know what just happened, how it just happened, and it's frankly scaring him a little, so he closes his belt, throws on his jacket and disappears out the back door.

-~:8:~-

Bruce walks around uptown for hours, trying to figure out how one girl batting her eyelashes at him was able to break all of the rules he had set up for himself over the years. He comes up short, obvíously; there’s no good explanation. He got too comfortable, too reckless and maybe a bit lonely, and he let it get the better of him. The fact that he somehow didn’t turn and leveled the whole bar is a miracle in itself. He’s a scientist for god's sake. He’s supposed to rely on tests and hard facts, not dumb luck.

He remembers what happened to Blonsky and wonders if the scenario is better than a Hulk-out. Sure, Blonsky got injected with his blood, several bags of it, but his reaction was a mixture of the serum that General Ross had ordered and Bruce’s DNA and hopefully one of a kind. Doctor Sterns had said that the cells were toxic, deadly, but Ava had walked away. Hadn’t shown any reaction at all. She could be dead now, he realizes, and it chills him more than the evening air. He does his best to quelch the panic that follows the thought.

He should probably call someone. Tony, maybe. Tony would understand. Probably. Or at least he wouldn’t judge Bruce for his poor judgement. Tony knows what it’s like, he’s been there himself plenty of times and he would accept the situation and look for solutions with no fuss. Bruce’s fingers clench around the phone in his pocket. No. It’s his mess and he has to see if he can fix it on his own. He has to get back and talk to her. He has to salvage this if he can. Bruce turns around and heads back the way he came. 

When he gets there, his stomach sink, because the bar is closed. Bruce forces himself to inhale deeply to keep his breathing under control; he doesn’t want for the Big Guy to make an appearance now, and approaches the door. 

_ Open; _

_ Mon-thurs; 1 pm - 1 am _

_ Fri-sun; 1 pm - 4 am _

A glance at his watch tells him it’s 2:36 on a wednesday, and Bruce mentally kicks himself for running. He should have dealt with it right away, but he had been in shock and hadn’t been thinking straight. He gives the door three hard knocks, just to make sure, but no one answers and with no other option available, he turns back towards the Tower. 

Bruce is ashamed, and he has no one to blame but himself. This situation could have been avoided, if he’d just followed the rules he’d given himself. Actually, had he not been an idiot in general today, this would have never happened. 

When he exits the elevators in the tower it’s late, or early, and he is possibly more freaked out than he had been earlier. His head is a mess, and none of his thoughts seems to be coherent anymore. He beelines for his bedroom, childishly wanting it all to go away, but Tony's voice echoing in the hallway makes him freeze. 

“Bruce Banner. Do my eyes deceive me, or are you actually sneaking in at _ this hour _ _ !? _” 

Bruce takes a deep breath to try and calm himself, but he mustn’t have been very successful, because when he turns towards Tony, the mans sly grin falls and he hurries towards Bruce. Tony doesn’t stop, just scuttles right up in his personal space, angling his face towards the lights in the ceiling, undoubtedly looking for any tint of green in Bruce’s eyes. Tony’s general attitude towards personal space was ‘Optional’ and Bruce usually protests more at these kind of touches, but all fight have sept out of him tonight. 

“Is this a ‘Suite-situation’?” Tony asks in his no-nonsense-voice, usually reserved for missions and takeout arguments. Bruce shakes his head just a fraction, because it’s really not anymore, he is relatively calm, and the tension in Tony’s shoulders disappear as quickly as it had evolved and the philanthropist returns to his usual bullshitting-self. 

“Phew. I would hate to get a repeat of last month. The workers just finished with the floor. Who knew that ‘The Bachelor’ could get you so riled up? I mean, I suppose it’s good that you have hobbies, but i would have expected, you know, yoga maybe. I heard that should be calming. Anyway, so you finally tamed the beast, huh, Brucie-boy? Good for you. Is it someone i know?” 

Tony is trying to ease the tension, he knows, but Bruce doesn’t laugh. Instead, he shakes his head and opens his mouth to answer, but Tony keeps talking.

“Oh it _ isn’t _? Wow, Brucie! I didn’t think you had it in you, you dog! Good for you, to let off a little steam!” 

For a split second Bruce considers not telling him, but someone could be dead because of him. _ Him _ _ . _Not the Hulk. This is all on him. It’s not that he doesn’t feel guilty about the people caught up in the Hulks collateral damage. That’s a different story. This had nothing to do with rage, and everything with a fuck-up in judgement. This could have been avoided. Easily. Bruce takes a deep breath. 

“Tony, listen, she..” Bruce feels a blush creep from his chests and within seconds his cheeks are burning with embarrassment. He mentally shudders at the fact that he probably will have to brief the _whole team_ on the situation tomorrow. “When she.. Uh, _swallowed_,” Tony gives out an exaggerated wolf-whistle and an equally matched wink but Bruce valiantly ignores it, “her eyes.. Her eyes glowed green.” 

He can still see it clearly in his mind. Can still feel the ice creeping its way along his spine when she had looked at him. The one thing Bruce had been trying to avoid for so long. And now one doe-eyed bartender had caused him to fuck up. The smile on Tony’s lips falters and Bruce can’t say that he blames him. 

“In a metaphorical afterglow kinda way?” 

Bruce gives him a hard stare, because he would _ never _joke about something like that, and the message seem to seep across, because Tony nods and scrunches up his face in the same way it does when he’s about to do something he really doesn’t want to do. 

“Right, didn’t think so.” 

-~:8:~-

They spend the rest of the night and morning trying to track Ava down, but anywhere they look, theres no trace of her at all. Tony starts with a search of social media, because, he reasons, not alot of people could be called the match of the name Ava and Bruce’s description, but it turns out he is wrong, and even after going through _ hundreds _ of brown-haired ‘Ava’s with residence in Brooklyn, Bruce have yet to find her. 

When Tony orders JARVIS to hack into the pubs employee records, she’s not there either, in fact the pub have _ no _women on their payroll, so Tony orders the AI to scan any surveillance camera in the general area. They finally find her on a video from the ATM across the street, ushering a few late patrons out the front door and locking it at 1 AM. A security cam feed from a few minutes later tells them that she left straight after. JARVIS tracks her for a block, but then she hails a cab that pass by her, and when her grainy pixels disappears into the yellow car, the AI announces that he is losing the trace somewhere on the Brooklyn Bridge. 

“A power surge in Brooklyn Heights is making it extensive to calculate the vehicle's route, Sirs.” 

Even Tony is frustrated, because he replies with a strained “_ Then hack the cab company _” and when DUM-E tries to hand him an empty coffee cup he grabs it forcefully and disappears in the direction of the kitchen. When he doesn’t return after an hour, Bruce can only assume that he has finally passed out somewhere along the way. 

He’s dozing off himself when the AI announces that that particular cabs records hadn’t been registered at the central hub yet. 

“It’s okay, JARVIS. Just.. Monitor the scanner for anything relevant, for now.” 

“Might I suggest returning to the original location for more information?” 

“Yeah.. I’ll do that..” Bruce stifles a yawn against his fist. He doesn’t want to sleep, but the bar doesn’t open for another 3-4 hours. Maybe some sleep will clear the ball of tension in his stomach a bit. “Will you set an alarm for me?” He asks as he moves towards the elevator. 

“Yes, of course, Sir.” 

“Thank you, JARVIS.” 

-~:8:~-

A couple of hours of uneasy sleep later, Bruce crosses the street to the bar. It’s a little after opening hours and through the window he can see patrons already lining the edge of the bar. 

Bruce’s hand closes around the syringe in his pocket. It contains sleeping serum of his own creation. He originally made it as a safeguard against the Hulk, but it had no effect on the Big Guy. One syringe could knock out a pack of angry elephants, but only annoyed his green counterpart. Here’s hoping it will work on Ava.

Bruce is operating in a grey area - he knows. A very _dark_ grey area. It’s not that he wants to use it - Bruce is not that kind of guy - but if they both Hulk out, what's to stop them from breaking Manhattan? It’s there as a security measure - a safeguard - something to stop anyone else from getting hurt from his mistakes. 

He’s working up the courage to go in, standing still on the pavement outside of the bar when she beats him to it. 

“Are you going to go in?” Bruce whirls around and there she is. She’s standing in the rain, an umbrella up and considering him. Ava smiles playfully at him and aren’t even the least discreet when she eyes him up and down. How long had she been standing there? 

“I, uh… I haven’t decided.” It’s a lie, probably a really obvious one, but Ava shrugs like its a difficult decision anyway and nods at him. She’s just as pretty as she was yesterday, Bruce notes, but the cloudy afternoon light gives the soft lines of her face justice in a way that the crammy bar light couldn’t. She’s beautiful. 

“I didn’t think i was gonna see you again, ya know.” She says, when he’s stared at her for a few seconds. She doesn't look angry, not really, and Bruce praises whatever deity is closest out there, because most women would be furious, with good right. “Can’t say I wasn't disappointed.” She accompanies the last word with a thorough look up his body.

“I’m sorry.” he says, dumbfounded and throws her a quick smile automatically. Ava gives a chuckle and shakes her head and adjusts her grip on her umbrella. 

“No, you’re not.” 

She calls him out on it and Bruce stuffs his hands in his pockets and tries to not let the comment phase him. He bites his lower lip and nods at the pavement like it holds the answers. Ava sees through him - well, mostly through him - and it’s pretty obvious that lies aren’t going to get him anywhere. Instead he tries the truth. 

“You’re right.” Bruce says and he rocks back and forward on his feet. “I’m not. I was.. Surprised. I don’t usually do that sort of thing.” 

When he looks back up from the cement Ava is eying him. She tilts her head, prompting him to continue. Bruce almost thinks she’s humouring him, but then he notices the way the back of her lower lip is lodged between her teeth. He takes two steps towards her and when she doesn’t move he gets braver. 

“Let me make it up to you.” He licks his lips to make sure she doesn’t misunderstands anything. Ava responds with a huff, but the way her eyes flicker to his lips to follow the movement gives her away. 

“You’ve got a lot of nerve.” 

“Do I?” Bruce leans into her space with deliberate hesitation. When Ava doesn’t pull away from him he strokes two fingers up her arm. Even through the leather jacket Bruce feels the electricity radiate off of her immediately. It doesn’t catch him quite as off-guard as it did yesterday, but he still has to suppress a shudder from the following endorphin-high. By the way her pupils twitch he can tell she feels it too. She lets him stew for a second or two more before she chuckles and answers. 

“Fine, okay. Let me just..” She hands him the umbrella and Bruce grabs it automatically. Ava enters the bars, but returns before the door have even closed properly behind her. She walks close, taking back the umbrella from him.

“Alright, handsome, let’s see what you got.” 

Bruce hails a cab and gives the driver the towers address. If Ava recognizes the address she doesn’t show it. She only slides close in the back of the cab and wastes no time getting her hands on him. Bruce is too stunned to make up an excuse not to, so he sits there, allowing her to drag her lips over the corner of his jaw again and again. 

It might be cruel to Ava but she is soft and Bruce can feel heat radiate off her through her clothes underneath his hands. He drags a hand up the back of her neck and angles her head with a firm hold in her hair when he leans in to kiss her. Ava responds right away; opening her mouth and letting him in. The taste of her bring flashes from yesterday to the front of his mind and the more she kiss him, the harder it gets to rationalize this as just-for-show. When the cab driver knocks forcefully on the separating plastic window and barks that they are at their destination, Bruce lets out a relieved sigh. 

Ava, it seems, is still not wasting time because she throws a fifty at the cabdriver on her way out of the cab. Bruce follows and if his breath is a little short he tells himself it’s all part of the show. He grabs her hand and pulls her into the tall building. 

“Do you live here?” Ava finally ask when he is dragging her through the foyer towards the private elevators. He scans his thumb on the access pad, punches the button to go up and turns toward her. She is glancing at the giant ‘A’ decorating the floor. 

“Temporarily.. I work for Stark Industries.” It’s not technically a lie. Tony does sponsor most of the Avengers now and some might call it an employment. Ava nods but as they wait for the elevator she’s sneaking glances at the tiles. Bruce can’t really say he’s surprised. Avenger Tower was famous, even a tourist attraction for some, and he could imagine it could be a bit overwhelming. He strokes his thumb over her knuckles gently and it has the desired effect, because she turns towards him and gives him a small smile. 

The elevator gives a ‘ding!’ and Ava follows him in. When the elevator door close, Ava comes close once again, and Bruce is fighting the urge to just go through with whatever plans Ava had made for the rest of the day. It’s incredibly selfish, he knows, but Bruce have been alone for so _ long _ and the way Ava is humming into the kiss does funny things to Bruce’s train of thoughts. She pushes his jacket over his shoulders and the syringe in his pocket knocks against his hip. It clears his mind and reminds him why they are there. 

He has to do it right now. He won’t get an opening like this again. The needle is right there, and Ava seems thoroughly distracted. 

Before Ava succeeds in getting the jacket completely off, he snatches the needle and prouds himself for only hesitating a second when he jabs it into her neck. The syringe makes a hissing sound when the automatic injection release the serum and Ava recoils from him and stumbles into the opposite wall of the elevator with a thump. She is grasping at her neck and her eyes are wide with surprise. 

“W- What?” Her eyes flicker to the needle in his hand and back to his face again. “What did you…” She sways and grabs for the railing when her legs give out. Bruce moves in to catch her and she tries to struggle, tries to push him away, but the serum is already making her limbs heavy. Sure enough, three seconds later she slumps in his arms. 

-~:8:~-

There’s only Bruce and Tony home tonight, Jarvis informs him. Steve was out, Natasha and Clint were off to god knows where, and Thor still hadn’t returned from Asgaard. Considering he walked past Tony still cuddling his coffee mug in the kitchen earlier, he isn’t particularly worried that anyone’s gonna ask him questions about the lifeless woman he is dragging down the hall to the lab. He considered taking her to the Suite, but he would rather he could watch over her directly while he does his tests. 

He sets Ava down as gently as he can behind his workspace, out of sight should anyone just happen to walk past. He wrestles her out of her jacket and taps some blood from her arm so he can analyze it. Cuffs her to the table leg with radiation absorbent handcuffs for good measure and gets to work. 

-~:8:~-

Exactly 18 minutes after he’d injected Ava with the serum she murmurs from her place in the corner of the room. Bruce’s stomach twists into something icey and his fingers freeze over the keyboard because if she’s awake already something is definitely wrong. 

Oh god. He actually did it. Almost twenty years, but he finally did it. Because of one fucking night of recklessness. The guilt pangs deep in his gut, returning the tension from yesterday and he moves his hand to clench at the edge of the table for stability. Ava is going to have to spend her life alone, like him. His mind spirals. What if Ross found out about her? Would Ava have to spend her days looking over her shoulder, too? 

“Why is it always the shy ones?” she moans, to no one but herself, but it makes Bruce startle out of his thoughts. Bruce turns to her and she leans back, eyes still still drooping a little bit from the serum, but she directs them both directly at him. 

“Seriously, am I that obvious?” Ava sighs, testing the cuffs against the metal of the workstation. She’s waking up, gaze getting clearer and looking around his lab. She sighs, knocks the back of her head against the wall behind her. Bruce doesn’t say anything - doesn’t know what he even _could_ say. 

“I told him.. I told the idiot that there was no chance that they hadn't gotten to his little kittens.” Ava says, continuing a conversation that Bruce is pretty sure he had no part in. 

“What did they promise you, hm?” she asks, looking at him directly. “Money? Power? The cure to cancer? Peace on earth? Because I gotta tell you, so far all they've gotten from me is weapons.” 

None of the sentences she spews at him makes any sense. Ava’s expecting an answer from him - for him to know _something_ implied - like he has any idea at all what she’s going on about here. Genius or not - his IQ points won't help him here. 

“Who?” Bruce asks foolishly. Ava scoffs at him immediately and supplies him with an unimpressed glare. 

“Who do you think? Your employer, idiot. What did Anthony fucking Stark promise you in exchange for me?” she spits. The logical part of Bruce’s brain understand that Ava’s reluctantly clarifying, but the words are still not making any sense. 

“Tony? Tony’s got.. Tony didn’t ask me to do this.” Bruce replies quickly. Ava sits up a little straight, hissing when her arms twists a little too far, making her slump back into her previous position. Bruce kind of wants to uncuff her, but not before he’s sure that she’s under control. 

“Ross, then.” She states flatly. More a fact than a question. Bruce’s hand automatically searches backwards for the metal tableedge. Stability always needed at the sound of the name. 

“General Ross?” He asks, his voice suddenly hoarse. Ava sighs disappointedly and it makes Bruce think that she doesn’t hear it as a question, but as a confirmation. He opens his mouth to correct, but Ava beats him to it and talks right over him. 

“He’s an idiot with a bloated ego, you know that, right? He think he’s too important to have to listen to SHIELD. Too bad his ego won’t be enough to hold them off. And they will come for him. And you. And anyone who’s ever known that you work for the military.” she says steadily.

Bruce would laugh at the absurdity of the situation if he wasn’t too busy trying to piece all of the information together. The situation have swirled rapidly out of control, and even considering what Bruce expected to find, he’s worried he might have taken on more than he can chew. 

“Who are you?” He asks bluntly. 

Ava visibly frowns at that question; not what she was expecting. Something clears in her eyes and she laughs a bitter laugh at him. 

“Of course. You don’t even know me, do you?” She’s still making assumptions, continuing her own little conversation without him. Bruce can’t get himself to stop her, because he’s obviously blindly stumbled upon some sort of plot and if General Ross is involved, he needs to know more. 

“Are you an Enhanced?” he asks. Ava scoffs at him again and rolls her eyes. 

“‘Enhanced’ he asks.. Pfft.” 

So that’s a yes, then. Bruce’s mind is spinning, all thoughts of passing on his.. ‘Condition’ promptly pushed away. What was Ava’s gifts? What history did she have with General Ross? With SHIELD? He wants to ask so many questions now, but have no idea how to ask them. Maybe without the handcuffs. 

She kicks him in the shin as soon as he gets close enough, and, honestly, it’s a rookie mistake on his behalf. Bruce toples over, grunting at the smooth ceramic floor. Ava doesn’t hesitate when she stomps her heel down into his stomach. Inside, the Hulk convulses, shimmering through his skin and his groan turns deeper, more feral until it’s not Bruce’s anymore. 

And he does sees it there for a split second. He sees the fear in her eyes, first the confusion, then the realisation and the following fear and the way she scramble back, closer to the wall. But none of it matters, because it is too late, and then all Bruce see is green. 

-~:8:~-

The coffee in Tony’s workshop is good, but the coffee machine in the kitchen is better. Tony wanted to install a matching one in his workshop but Jarvis, the traitor, refuses to interface with it. Something about giving him a reason to get out of the shop. This is why Tony is on his way to get coffee from the kitchen when he hears it. 

It’s not really hard to identify. You never forget the sound of the Hulk. 

“Sir, there is a distress coming from the radiation lab.” 

“Old news Jarvis, tell me something new. Give me a videofeed.” 

The kitchen table’s projector flickers on and a livefeed from the three security cameras in Bruce’s lab appears. The woman that they had been looking for last night; Ava, she’s there, on the floor, pressed against the wall behind Bruce’s workspace. The Hulk is looming - yes, _looming_ \- over her. The Big Guy scuttles to the left and reveals Ava being _actually handcuffed to the table. _

The empty coffee mug is left on the table, forgotten, and Tony is out the door as fast as he can. He tears open the door to the stairs and begins the two-story descend. 

“Alright, Jarvis. Code green. Send the suit. I’m going ahead.” 

“Affirmative, Sir.” 

He jumps the last four steps and enters Banner’s lab level. He can see Him now. The big, green back of shifting muscles and he slows his pace. A palm on the lock and the door slides open. The Big Guy doesn’t particularly react but Ava’s wide gaze jump towards him. Tony takes one step, but a small, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, shake of the head stops him. Ava looks back toward the Hulk. She seems to consider the giant rage monster and then - and seriously, bless her naivety - tries to actually talk to him. 

“I- I’m sorry.” 

The Hulk scoffs loudly at her like he’s just kinda fed up with her, but because he’s absolutely _enormous_ it comes out way too loud and vibrates along the walls of the lab. Tony knows logically that the Hulk understands at least _some _of what goes on around him.. Its just that usually he is the shoot-first kind of guy, but now.. Not so much. Tony doesn’t think he’s ever heard the Big Guy respond quite like that. Normally he would have broken something by now. He doesn’t even seem aggressive. And Ava, _fucking __Ava_, doesn’t even seem that scared anymore. Well, her eyes are still pretty wide, but she is slowly leaning closer to the oversized scientist. 

“I was.. Scared. I didn’t mean to..”

The Hulk interrupts her with a grunt and rolls his shoulders, dismissive. He reaches down, and Tony can’t see what’s happening, but there’s a sound of metal creaking and breaking and then the Hulk throws the metal leg of the table to the side. 

And alright, he knows he’s standing there, gaping and staring like a deer caught in the headlights, but Tony doesn’t quite know what to even make of this. Like, does he stay? Does he go? Does he distract the thing, what should he do? The Hulk isn’t aggressive, he’s just sort of _ there _. Something about Ava is clearly affecting him. Whether in a good or a bad way, Tony hasn’t really decided yet. 

“Thank you.” Ava says and gets herself on her feet without too much of a hassle. She’s still keeping her eyes firmly on the Hulk. She’s also still very much handcuffed, and call it a work-injury, but Tony doesn’t like that she’s so close to a literal 8-feet rage monster. She opens her mouth to speak again and she’s even slowly reaching out to the Big Guy and Tony can _ see _ the skin on his back ripple to a sorta brownish and then - 

Well, then his armorpack flies through the window and just ruins _ everything _ _ . _

The Hulk spins around and he is fuming now. The armor lodges itself to Tony and extends around him until he’s covered by it. The faceplate pops down just in time for Tony to see the Hulk rush towards him with a roar. He launches himself towards Tony and they go through the glass wall together. Tony aims one of his hand-thrusters at the guy’s face and uses the distraction to propel himself along the hallway and out of through the window pane at the side of the building. 

“Responding to Code Green. Stark, what did you do?” 

Oh thank Bohr, it’s Natasha. 

“Hey! I didn’t do any-” 

He doesn’t get to finish his protest because the Hulk jumps out the window after him, and manages to grab him midair. He yelps in surprise and they both tumble towards the pavement 90 stories beneath them. Tony can’t get a proper angle to hit the guy with his thrusters again so they hit the asphalt with a loud crack and the armor resonates so loudly it makes Tony a little dizzy. There’s screams around them as people hurries to get away. The Hulk hurls Tony down the street, but he coursecorrects and hangs for a few seconds above the halted afternoon traffic. 

“ETA 40 seconds.” Natasha announces over the comms. 

A small dot appears on his interface and a few seconds later both Barton and Rogers appear too. Steve’s still in Brooklyn, almost on the bridge, but Barton is thankfully right behind Natasha. The Hulk is waiting, ready for Tony to pounce at him, and Tony boosts his voice through the speakers of his suit. 

“C’mon, Big Guy, there’s no need to fight.” 

The Hulk grunts, but doesn’t attack and Tony takes it as a good sign. He hovers a bit closer, at eye height, and tries again.

“Lets just go home, huh? I got all of your favorite toys waiting for you in the Suite.” 

He’s still waiting and Tony fools himself into thinking that He is actually listening, hovering ever closer still. 

And then the Hulk grabs the suit by the ankle and throws Tony through three walls, lodging him firmly into a freezer-door in the back of a coffee-shop. The helmet’s projection flickers off and then on again and Tony groans and just hangs there for a few seconds. He’s gotta get Jarvis to remind him to add some padding to his suit. Honestly, the bruises he’s getting from this thing... Before he can get up, Natasha’s stupid upside down smirking face enters his field of vision. 

“Are you sleeping on the job, Stark?” Tony can hear the amusement in her voice through the comms and if he could he would give her a display of a certain finger. 

“You know me. I take my beautysleep very seriously.” 

Natasha snorts.

“You could have fooled me.” she answers. 

“Ha-ha. Remind me why i pay your rent again?” he retorts, but there's no bite to it. Never is. That's just how he and Natasha works. All the remark does is making her roll her eyes and she turns and disappears out through the broken window next to him. Tony sighs and wiggles out of the indentation. The joints of the suit wirres noisily as he gets back up. Yup, that's definitely a nice bruise along his spine. Again. 

He sighs because he hears both Barton and Natasha yelling, accompanied by what he thinks is plenty of bricks being broken. He composes himself and warms up the repulsors. He steels himself to call on VERONICA, but as soon as he reenters the street he stops dead in his tracks. 

The Hulk is on the ground in front of Ava, not moving besides the slow characteristic ripples of the transformation and if Tony didn’t see it himself he wouldn’t believe it, because the Hulk is _ s _ _ noring. Actually snoring _ _ . _He’s never seen this before. Usually when he’s this calm he would have transformed back already. He doesn't even want to think about what that actually implicates about Ava. 

Ava heaves once, twice, and then supports herself on her knees as she promptly empties the contents of her stomach onto the ground. She steadies herself with a few breaths, wiping off her mouth with back of her hand. She sends a glance at them and Tony just knows she’s going to run. He’s about to warn the others, but he keeps forgetting that he’s working with super spies because when Ava turns away from him, Natasha and Barton is already there, crossed arms, menacing scowl, the whole shebang. Tony can see the way Ava’s stance shifts, spine straightening, jaw tensing, chest puffed forward. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.” she says with a steel voice. It’s almost a threat. Almost. 

Still, Tony’s not about to take any chances, especially after what he’s just witnessed, and he sends a dart of Banners sleeping serum at her. She gasps in surprise and grasps at the dart lodged in her neck. She sways when she finally pulls it out and hits the ground like a sack of potatoes a second later. 

Behind her, Bruce gives out a snore and turns into a more comfortable position in his Hulk-shaped hole. Typical.

_ She said, _

_ Ain't nobody gonna break my stride _

_ Ain't nobody gonna hold me down, oh no _

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you like the start of this! Feedback is much appreciated!


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